Browsed byAuthor: Kéta Kosman

The 2016 American Community Survey shows that renters occupied 43.8 million residences in 2016, explained the US National Association of Home Builders Tuesday. Of these rental homes, 34.8 per cent are one-unit single-family homes, 17.7 per cent are 2-4 unit structures. Therefore, more than half of all renters, approximately 53 per cent, lived in buildings with less than 5 units in 2016. Single-family homes made up a substantial share of rentals from 2005 to 2016. Moreover, the one-unit single-family rental…

A runaway lumber sales market surprised even Madison’s last week as Friday morning lumber futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were cresting toward up-limit on the March contract, wavering at $480 but on small volumes. Actual support for lumber prices is definitely coming from the cash market, where under- stocked customers just keep coming back to suppliers for more and more wood they need right now for actual building projects. Ongoing supply constraints, as well as remnants of transportation woes,…

Total housing starts in the US declined in December after strong readings for prior months due to weather-related delay effects in autumn. Total starts decreased 8 per cent to a 1.19 million seasonally adjusted annual rate, according to the joint data release from the Census Bureau and HUD Friday. Nonetheless, over the course of 2017 single-family starts posted a strong year, increasing 8.5 per cent compared to 2016 to a level of 848,000. Single-family starts decreased in December, falling 12…

The value of building permits issued by Canadian municipalities declined 7.7 per cent to $7.7 billion in November, said Statistics Canada Monday. CANADA CONSTRUCTION INVESTMENT AND BUILDING PERMITS: 2017 Investment in non-residential building construction in Canada totalled $13.7 billion in the fourth quarter, up 1.6 per cent over the previous quarter, marking a third consecutive quarterly increase, according to Statistics Canada Tuesday. Nationally, gains were reported for all three components (institutional, industrial and commercial), led by spending on institutional building…

According to a report released by the Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism on December 27th, Japan’s housing starts in November 2017 were 84,703 units (down 0.4 per cent from the same month in the previous year), falling below the previous year’s results for five consecutive months, said the Japan Lumber Journal Monday. When compared to the previous month, the figures increased by 2 per cent. The seasonally-adjusted annual rate was 951,000 units (up 1.9 per cent from…

Lumber production rose 6.3 per cent from September to 5,991 thousand cubic metres of lumber in October, said Statistics Canada Wednesday. Production was 1.2 per cent higher than in October 2016. Sawmills shipped 5,884 thousand cubic metres of lumber in October, up 1.1 per cent from September and 0.3 per cent higher than in October 2016.

US sawmills produced 28.638 billion board ft. (bbf) of softwood lumber in the first ten months of 2017, another 4.3 per cent increase over last month, from 27.446 bbf from January to October the previous year, according to the Western Wood Products Association’s latest Lumber Track report Wednesday. CANADA AND US LUMBER PRODUCTION, SAWMILL CAPACITY: OCTOBER 2017 For their part, sawmills in Canada produced 23.866 bbf of softwood lumber in January to October this year, a 0.2 per cent increase…

Demand, especially from retailers, continued so strong this week that many North American sawmills were actually able to grow their order files. Current Softwood Lumber Prices Compared to Historical Highs. The below table is a comparison of June 2017 and January 2018 prices for benchmark dimension softwood lumber 2×4 prices compared to historical highs of 2004/05: As Madison’s had anticipated at the end of 2017, the North American lumber market was back in high-gear this week as customers in Canada…

All signs and numbers point to a huge year for the US construction industry, declared CNBC Thursday. Construction spending in the US is soaring, rising more than expected in November to a record US$1.257 trillion, according to the Commerce Department. That was up 2.4 per cent annually. US PRIVATE RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION SPENDING: NOVEMBER 2017 The US National Association of Home Builder analysis of Census Construction Spending data shows that total private residential construction spending rose +1 per cent in November…

For the three days of the annual National Association of Home Builders 2018 International Builders’ Show® (IBS) last week, building industry professionals from across the globe discovered a variety of products and innovative concepts that are sure to enhance their businesses moving forward. For all of 2017, the US construction industry added 210,000 jobs, a 35 per cent increase over 2016, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics January 5. Even in December, with much of the nation frozen, the…